


The Memory Den

by VaultBunny (Spinning_Hatter)



Series: As You Wish [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Biting, Bondage, Cunnilingus, D/s themes, Dirty Talk, Enthusiastic Consent, Established Relationship, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Finger Sucking, Gags, Ghoul Sex, Handcuffs, One Shot Collection, Orgasm Delay, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Role Reversal (Under Order), Rough Sex, Roughness, Strong Language, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:28:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28844580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spinning_Hatter/pseuds/VaultBunny
Summary: A collection of one-shots in the "As You Wish" universe. Can be read as companion pieces if you're reading "As You Wish" or as stand alone stories if you haven't.Chapter 1: Unbound:“So?” Viv asked expectantly, swinging the cuffs in a hypnotic arc in front of his face.“No,” he said firmly, “you’re not putting that shit on me.”Viv tilted her head, a slow smirk curling that too-witty-for-her-own-good mouth of hers.“Who said anything about putting them on you?”
Relationships: Charon & Lone Wanderer, Charon (Fallout) & Female Lone Wanderer, Charon (Fallout)/Female Lone Wanderer, Charon (Fallout)/Lone Wanderer
Series: As You Wish [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648477
Comments: 9
Kudos: 36





	The Memory Den

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always a slut for ghoul smut. This was inspired for a line that's coming up in Ch 5. of "As You Wish" and I just...had to write the scene instead of putting it in a super out of place flashback. If you're a fan of As You Wish, I hope you'll enjoy having a side fic that is focused mostly on Charon and Viv (as well as eventual Eva and Hancock) prior to the events of the main story. If you haven't, well, have some free ghoul porn on me.
> 
> This story is marked "complete" as each installment will be one complete story, but I suggest subscribing so you won't miss the upcoming chapters (or don't, I'm not your real mom *shrug*)

**Chapter 1**

**Unbound**

Charon didn’t consider himself a coward. Fear didn’t still his feet or cause his hands to lose their grip. There was no breaking out into a cold sweat (his pores long since ruined by his ghoulification) and even the thundering of his heart only served as a war drum to move his body to action. Mind over body was so ingrained in his being, he was certain it had been beaten into him even before his earliest memory. Yet, there was something about Vivian Nelson bounding through their front door, cheeks flushed pink and eyes sparkling with barely contained mischief, that triggered his fight or flight response like nothing else on God’s barren earth. He watched her cross the living room with a bounce in her step, holding something behind her back with a smile — such uninhibited joy that chilled the blood in his veins.

That saccharine smile never boded well. The last time, it had been the precursor to some half-baked treasure hunt she’d heard about at the Saloon. She insisted they needed some time out of Megaton, and several days later he found himself dragged out to Old Olney. It didn’t take long to stumble upon a nest of baby deathclaws, even quicker to run into their parents. It took more ammo than they had any business shooting and some old-fashioned survival instinct to escape with their lives. Empty-handed, he might add, besides the needle-like teeth he had to pluck out of his ass for an hour.

“Viv,” he welcomed her back with a wary stare.

“Nova gave me a present!” She ignored all pleasantries, practically vibrating as she eagerly awaited his response. Charon’s muscles relaxed and he settled himself onto the sofa. A present, he could handle. He hoped.

“What’s that?” He asked, pulling out a pack of stale cigarettes. He held one between his lips, watching her out of the corner of his eye as she plopped down next to him and brought her prize out for his perusal. Dull metal swung in front of his face before he had the chance to process what he was looking at. One large hoop dangled from her fingers, leaving the other end swaying in the air from a short chain. 

Handcuffs. The ex-whore had given her full-blown, no-nonsense, “ _clap him in irons, Johnny!_ ” handcuffs.

Somehow he wasn’t surprised.

“So?” Viv asked expectantly, swinging the cuffs in a hypnotic arc in front of his face.

“Not a chance in Hell,” Charon grumbled and reached for his lighter. He flicked the flame to life, taking a deep drag of his cigarette as Viv puffed out her cheeks and pounced onto his lap. He barely doused the fire before it could burn her.

“You swore,” she accused, jabbing a finger into the middle of his chest.

“The fuck I did.”

“You _did_.” Her upper lip curled and her eyes narrowed dangerously. “You said if I managed to out-shoot you, I’d get a reward.”

He grimaced, eyeing the cuffs that seemed prepared to lash out and bite him. He had used the promise of reward to encourage her to practice her marksmanship, though his idea had been somewhere along the line of treating her to a hot meal or drinks at Gob’s rather than letting her chain him up. She had done exceptionally well during their last escapade out into the wastes, he’d even felt a little proud as they tallied up their respective hits and she’d come out ahead— just by one shot, but a win was a win.

Even so, looking at the cold steel swinging from her fingers, Charon knew he wouldn’t be able to grant this request. He’d gone too long with the invisible shackles of servitude locked around his limbs, he didn’t care to have literal chains render him powerless. Especially in his own home.

“No,” he said firmly, heaving a plume of smoke through his nasal cavity, “you’re not putting that shit on me.”

Viv tilted her head, a slow smirk curling that too-witty-for-her-own-good mouth of hers. She plucked the cigarette from his lips, taking a long, slow drag as she leaned forward, bracing herself with a hand against his chest.

“Who said anything about putting them on _you_?” She purred.

Charon groaned to himself, breathing in her second-hand smoke as her soft lips teased against his. He felt his resolve slipping. Her hips hovered over him as she trailed the backs of her fingers along his jaw. He distantly wondered what he had ever done to deserve this — not entirely certain if he were celebrating or cursing his fate.

“C’mon, Charon, just think about it. You can have me any way you want me.” She kissed him lightly, pulling back before he could move to reciprocate. “You can do anything to me. Use me, hurt me,” her flirtation continued, trailing her lips along the contours of his face as she whispered sinfully against his flesh, “ _and I won’t be able to do a damn thing about it_.”

“Viv…” Was it a warning or encouragement? Damn her, the little brat knew how to get her way, knew just what buttons to push to bend him to her will without a direct order.

He couldn’t say he hated it.

“Please, Charon?” She nibbled lightly on the thin skin behind where his earlobe used to be, slipping the cuffs into his palm. “Please... _sir_?”

She cried out as he pinned her beneath him, one hand fisting in his shirt to keep herself stable. The cigarette in her fingers burned into the faded upholstery beneath her before she hastily tossed it over her head to litter the metal floor. He scowled, eyeing the way her throat bobbed under his scrutiny. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t get far before he gripped her jaw.

“The next time you throw trash on my floor,” he warned, tracing her bottom lip with two fingers, “I’m going to make you clean it with this filthy mouth of yours.”

Viv shivered beneath him, parting her lips obediently to accept the digits as they slipped over her tongue. She offered the slightest of moans when he wedged his thigh between her legs, sucking his fingers as greedily as she would a thicker part of his anatomy. With a derisive snort, Charon held the handcuffs in front of her face.

“I don’t need these in order to fuck you however I want,” he taunted, hiding the shackles away in his pocket. He wasn’t one to talk dirty. Usually it took a lot of pestering from her before he’d even consider giving in. But, he had promised a reward. Riling her up with a bit of shit-talk was the least he could do if he wasn’t going to cuff her. She couldn’t say he wasn’t willing to compromise, especially when her grip tightened around his shirt and she rubbed herself against his thigh. He pulled his fingers from her mouth, shoving his hand unceremoniously beneath the waistband of her shorts. 

“Just look at you,” he almost smirked at the way she bucked her hips against his slick fingers, “you already can’t do a damn thing about it.”

Viv yanked him closer, teeth clacking against teeth with the force of her kiss. The impact of her lips almost stuttered his probing between her thighs.

The crash of her forehead slamming against his nasal cavity finished the job.

Charon reeled back with a shout, clapping a palm over the small stream of blood she’d managed to shed. Through the pulsating pain, he saw that cocky grin curl her lips before her knee jammed itself into his ribs and she rolled out from underneath him.

“Wanna bet?” Her challenge was made with a tossing of her curls over her shoulder, come-hither lashes lowering with vexatious defiance.

Charon pushed himself up and charged but Viv darted towards the stairs, a trail of her laughter mocking him. His strides were longer, stronger, and he managed to catch up just before she made it to the bedroom. He hooked his arm around her middle and hurled her over his shoulder, slapping his palm sharply against her ass when she shrieked in his ear.

“You want to get chained up so fucking bad? Fine,” he snarled and kicked their bedroom door open.

Their bed was shitty. Two battered twin-sized mattresses that could barely hold the both of them at once without protest. The ancient springs creaked miserably when he threw her down onto her stomach. He pinned her with his knee between her shoulder blades, swiping the back of his hand across his nose to mop up the rest of the blood. She struggled against him like the fighter he’d made of her, hair blocking her face, hiding the icy glare that he could feel burning into his flesh like another goddamn bomb. The tent in his pants screamed with the need to see it.

A few years ago, she would have laid there and taken whatever he dished out. Not out of helplessness (one mention of her chosen word would stop him in his tracks if the need ever arose), but of _fear_ . Fear, she had told him, of mistreating him. Abusing him. Laughably, even _hurting_ him had been on that list. When he pushed the hair out of her face and saw the inferno rolling behind those baby-blues, he was silently thankful that she’d grown out of that foolishness. He fisted her golden curls and yanked her head back just enough to see the side of her neck strain. Viv hissed a curse through her teeth, nails biting into the threadbare sheets.

“Fucking let go, you asshole!” She snapped.

“Shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you.” Charon removed his knee from her back, keeping her hair coiled around his fist while she continued to launch insults at him like grenades. He pulled her up to her hands and knees, reaching to unbuckle his belt with his free hand. He pulled it loose and her eyes zeroed in immediately, widening just enough to make him rethink the decision.

He released his hold on her hair, letting her push herself up to inspect the belt fully. He watched silently as her small fingers traced his knuckles, down to the strap of leather, almost reverent in her examination. Finally, she met his eyes with an eager smile.

“ _Yes.”_ Viv nodded emphatically, leaning forward and parting her lips to accept it without another thought. Charon still hesitated, especially as the implications of gagging her began to seep through his arousal.

“How will you stop me?”

“Oh, I _won’t_ ,” she swore with a saucy grin.

“Viv.”

She sighed but her expression softened. Her fingers trailed along the back of his hand again, her lower lip sucked between her teeth in consideration. Finally, she held up a peace sign with two fingers.

“Like this,” she offered. “If I move my hand like this, consider it a time-out. You take the belt out of my mouth and if I need to stop you from there, I will. Does that work for you?”

Charon nodded slowly. Viv hooked her arms around his neck, kissing him sweetly, as though to reassure him. He let his fingers slide through the tangles of her hair, smoothing over where he’d manhandled her. She sighed a soft sound into his mouth as he indulged her gentle lips.

“Now,” she grinned against his mouth, “shut me the fuck up, you asshole.”

Charon wrapped his hand around her throat and shoved her away from him. He choked off her moan with a brief tightening of his grip and wedged his belt between her teeth, looping it through the buckle and tightening it around her head.

That burning glare was back, shooting liquid heat straight to his groin. The game was back on. Viv threw her body against him when he reached for her shirt, clawing and squirming (albeit, half-heartedly — she must have gotten sick of waiting) as he ripped it over her head. She lifted her hips, kicking her shorts off to some forsaken corner of the room as soon as he slipped them down her toned legs.

When she was completely bare beneath him, creamy skin adorned with sun-induced freckles and pink scars, Charon reached into his pocket and pulled out the cuffs she was so infatuated with. He trailed his eyes over her plush thighs, along the curve of her waist and her heaving breasts, until he met her pleading stare following the swing of the chain dangling from his grip. He huffed a short laugh to himself and pushed one ring all the way through to slide it open.

“Hands above your head,” he ordered.

Viv was all too eager to comply, presenting her wrists in complete submission. She gasped softly behind the belt as the first cold ring locked into place around the thin skin of her wrist. Charon made sure he didn’t tighten it all the way before looping the chain through the rusting bed frame and securing her other hand. Once he was sure she wasn’t going anywhere, he leaned back to scrutinize his work.

Shit. He had to hand it to her. The way her body angled to compensate for the strain on her shoulders pushed her breasts out in the most inviting way. Her back was arched, body completely open to him while her sassy mouth was gagged...maybe this was a good idea, after all.

Not that he’d ever give her the pleasure of admitting it.

“Any way I want you, huh?” He reiterated her offer from before, sliding down the arc of her body. He felt her tremble with anticipation as his breath ghosted over the apex of her thighs, and didn't miss the way she craned her neck to watch him with lustful eyes. Rather than dive right in, he licked a stripe from her belly button to her ribs. She squealed behind the belt, rattling the chain as her fists clenched and he nipped the underside of a breast. He braced one hand on her hip to stop her squirming, taking a nipple threateningly between his teeth. She stilled as quickly as if he’d pressed his shotgun to her head, but couldn’t stop the anxious twitching of her muscles as both of his hands lazily drew along the length of her torso.

Viv whimpered at the sensation of his tongue lathing over his hostage before continuing on. He shoved himself between her legs while his mouth burned a wet, biting trail along the slope of her neck. One hand groped her neglected breast, rolling her nipple between his fingers while the other hand slipped between them. He plunged a finger into her slick heat without warning, smirking against her throat at her muffled moan. 

Her head lolled back, spine arching into the sensation of another digit working its way inside of her. Charon curled them in the way that drove her wild, swirling his thumb over her most sensitive bundle of nerves until she started to move against him. He was unforgiving with the way he thrust his fingers in and out of her, making sure he aimed for that raised part of her inner walls that left her thighs shaking with need. 

Another rattle of chains caught his attention and he immediately checked her hands to make sure her fingers were still relaxed. She wasn’t making the sign to stop, but she tugged on her restraints again and gasped sharply behind her gag. The way her body began to tense, eyes screwed shut and teeth clamping down over his belt, Charon knew she was close. He pulled his fingers out of her before she could fall over the edge. A taunting curled twisted his lips at her frustrated shriek and he braced both hands on either side of her trembling body. He lowered his head back to her throat, nipping a trail up and along the underside of her jaw as her muffled curses filled the room.

“I should leave you like this,” he growled hotly into her ear, “teach you some fucking manners.”

Viv shook her head, stretching her body in an attempt to grind herself against his thigh. Charon scowled and looped an arm around her waist, raising her hips high enough to give her ass a sharp swat. 

“Do that shit again and I’ll make you regret it.”

With a frustrated groan, she slumped back against the lumpy mattress. Once he was sure she would remain compliant, Charon leaned back enough to pull his shirt over his head. He heard her soft gasp, and once he lowered his arms she raked her eyes greedily across his torso. Each exposed muscle, vein, and mass of scar tissue was subject to her adoring stare, and her hands clenched as though desperate to touch and feel his necrotic flesh against hers.

He’d never fucking understand her.

Before she could stare too long, he began his trek back down her body. Sharp pinches of teeth left his signature in red marks down her skin, soothed by hot swipes of his tongue. He kissed and nipped his way over her stomach, then from hip bone to hip bone, listening intently to her little hitches of breath. She shot him an impatient look when he hooked her knee over his shoulder. His lips burned into the inside of her thigh, tongue snaking out to taste the arousal glistening against her skin.

Viv whined a noise that sounded suspiciously like his name. She tensed up, leg twitching as though she meant to pull his head closer but thought better of it. Instead, she spread her thighs wider in silent invitation, swallowing thickly as she watched him slowly move to where she needed him most.

He met her eyes, pausing just long enough to take in her hopeful stare before dragging the flat of his tongue over her eager sex. She loosed a high-pitched sound of relief, but even that was barely audible over the slick noises of his lips and tongue claiming her. Her hips jerked at the first scrape of teeth over her sensitive skin, smothering him briefly until he gripped her hips and held her still with a growl. She shivered against him, thighs straining, and that telltale keen in her voice was back. Her strangled moans climbed higher and higher, legs clamping around his head until...until…

Charon pulled himself away with a dark smirk, licking his lips as Viv unleashed a muffled, furious scream. Agonized tears welled up in her eyes, glaring as she bit out unintelligible curses and kicked at him. He caught her ankle easily, pinning her legs down against the mattress. He spread her thighs and held them open, darting back down to ravage her once more with his teeth and tongue.

He lost count of how many times he brought her hurtling towards her peak before backing off to the tune of her tortured sobs. She didn’t fight him anymore, only laid helplessly on her back as her breasts heaved and her body twitched with pent up frustration. He stared down at her, admiring the flush of her cheeks, and the flow of tears from behind her long lashes as they fluttered closed. Having been denied release so many times, he was sure she was reaching her breaking point.

He ran his thumb over her clenched fists and she stiffened, eyes shooting open to watch him curiously as he checked her wrists. They were a bit irritated, but since he hadn’t tightened the cuffs the whole way, it seemed like she could take a bit more. Her pupils were blown wide, body wound tight as a spring, but as his thumb stroked over her knuckles, her hands relaxed.

“Enough?” Charon prepared for the sign, already contemplating where the key to unlock her was stashed. Instead, she shook her head and raised a shaking leg to run along his side, craning her neck until he lowered his face to her level. She couldn’t kiss him with the belt in her mouth, so she rested her forehead against his, sighing softly as his hand followed the line of her arm and shoulder until he could cup her jaw.

She wasn’t telling him to stop, but he knew she was quickly coming up on her limit. He reached between them to unzip his fly, biting back a groan as he freed his straining erection from his pants. Even with the damaged nerves and impaired sensation that came with his ghoulificiation, he knew it wouldn’t take long to satisfy the throbbing in his palm. Just the thought of finally being inside her had him thrust hard into his hand.

Viv whined indignantly, as though offended he’d dare jack himself off when she was perfectly ready beneath him. Charon stroked himself again just to hear her whimper. It wasn’t enough.

He tugged the belt loose from the buckle and slipped it from her mouth. He tossed the gag away, freeing his mistress’s voice once more as he settled himself in his spot between her legs. Viv tested her jaw idly, watching him with those shimmering tears in her eyes as though she expected him to turn on her at any moment. When he dragged the head of his shaft through her soaked folds, her unhindered whine had him twitch in his palm.

“Tell me how bad you want it,” he said.

She blinked up at him, the wrinkle in her nose did nothing to hide the shiver of arousal that trembled through her body. 

“After all that shit, you think I’m going to beg you?” She snarled.

“I know you will,” he dipped his head to take the shell of her ear between his teeth, biting just hard enough to make her flinch beneath him, “or else I’m going to get myself off on your stomach and leave you like this until I get back from watch tonight.”

“You _motherfucker_ ,” Viv spat, but she couldn’t stop her own moan as he nudged his rigid length against her. She looked like she was about to call his bluff, but he saw the moment she realized the hell in store if she was wrong. “ _Fuck_ , okay, fine!”

“Great start,” he snarked.

Viv muttered to herself, angling her hips to try to take him inside anyway. He shot her a warning sound, gripping himself at the base in threat.

“ _Charon…_ ”

“Viv.”

“Please!” She snapped in agitation. “I can’t fucking take it anymore. God damn it, please, please, please, I don’t know what else you want to fucking hear!”

Charon sheathed himself inside of her with one smooth stroke. He muffled her cry of satisfaction with a deep kiss, tongue delving into her mouth as her legs hooked around his hips. She clenched around the sudden intrusion, hot and tight, and he tried to keep himself still until she relaxed. Her soft whines against his mouth were so much sweeter than when they’d been trapped behind the leather of his belt. 

He took her lower lip between his teeth, grazing over the soft skin as he pulled away to fully appreciate her blissed out expression. She watched him with half-lidded eyes, furrowed brows, with those full lips parted to take soft gasps of air as he remained damnedably still inside of her. 

Viv cried out at his first solid thrust. What began as shallow rolls of his hips quickly slipped into a steady rhythm as he lost himself inside of her. One hand fisted in their thin sheets, the sound of ripping fabric merely white noise as he bent one of her legs up to rest her ankle against his shoulder. The angle had him spearing himself against a part of her that left her screaming, straining against the cuffs as she squirmed beneath him.

Anyone walking by their shack would probably think the ghoul had finally gone feral and attacked. The sounds he ripped out of Viv’s throat were raw and wild. Each gasping moan and strained sob sent a pulse straight to the base of his spine, urging him faster until he felt her start to clench around him, no doubt ready for the relief that he’d ripped away from her time and again.

She bit her lip harshly, choking back all of the signs of her mounting pleasure. Her nails bit into her palms and she turned her face away, shielding her expression with her arm. She must have learned her lesson from earlier and tried her damnedest to hide just how close she was. Charon huffed a breathless laugh, maintaining his savage pace as he grasped her chin and forced her to look back at him.

“Not this time,” he assured her, smirking at the relief that washed over her face. “Come for me, Viv.”

If she hadn’t been chained down, Viv would have shot completely upright with how strongly she arched off the bed. She came with a sharp cry, shrieking his name to the ceiling as he continued to pound into her. Her pulsing walls pulled him deeper, urging his release to follow soon after. It took only a few more rough thrusts before shockwaves of ecstasy burst through him and he spilled himself inside her, clamping his teeth down on the side of her smooth neck to muffle the guttural groan tearing out of his throat.

His hips only slowed once he was completely spent, coming to rest with one final push that buried him to the hilt in her welcoming heat. Viv moaned softly beneath him, struggling to catch her breath as her body rode out the aftershocks of her pleasure. She stared up at him in wonder, her wild curls mussed and splayed out behind her head, stray strands sticking to her forehead with sweat. Bloody teeth marks glared crimson on the side of her neck, but she didn’t seem to care. Her plush lips beckoned to him, kiss-swollen and parted to take in deep gulps of air.

She sighed through her nose as he stole her lips with another kiss, staking his claim with his tongue and threatening to completely overtake her in her debauched state. Her body was pliant beneath his hands as they slowly wandered along her sweat-slicked skin, leaving her shivering as he pulled his softening member out of her.

“You alright, Viv?” He asked against her lips. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d shut up for this long. She only nodded, swallowing thickly before she gently kissed the short ridge of his nasal bone.

“I like you,” she declared. The huskiness in her voice had him twitching against his thigh. Her eyes fluttered closed at the first touch of his fingers against her forehead, brushing the stray strands of hair away from her face. She smiled as though she somehow found a response masquerading in the gesture.

Finally finding the energy to lift himself off of her, Charon pushed himself off the bed. He adjusted his pants and tucked himself away, pausing to let his eyes trail over Viv’s bound form once more. The scattered marks his teeth had left on her skin were bright scarlet, a roadmap that led his gaze on a treasure hunt to her most sensitive places. Their combined essence leaked to the insides of her thighs, shining against the other bruises and marks he’d left in his wake.

Charon bit back an embarrassing sound and turned away before he’d need to take her again. He really did need to do his rounds outside of the city, and he doubted Sheriff Simms would understand him playing hooky just because of the far too fuckable smoothskin chained up on his bed.

“Charon?” Her small voice caught his attention. It was too hesitant, not at all the blissful tone he’d come to expect from her afterglow. His body immediately tensed on high alert and he turned back to examine her, making sure he didn’t hurt her more than she could take.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, finding nothing too out of the usual when it came to the aftermath of their joining.

Viv worried her lower lip between her teeth, suddenly fascinated with a small hole at the base of the wall.

“Did you…” she cleared her throat and turned her eyes on him, too wide and vulnerable for his comfort. “Did you like it?”

Charon stared at her for a beat before he ran his hand over his face, all the concern leaving him in a rush. Of course she was worried about that — she had her priorities more tangled up than a centaur’s DNA. His first instinct was to brush her off, but there was something about the way she looked at him that made him wonder if she could take such a brusque response from him in the moment.

It occurred to him that maybe this hadn’t been something she’d been into before. She’d never mentioned any desire for him to chain her up in the last few years that they’d been “together” in this sense. His stomach twisted with the thought that this whole thing had been entirely for his benefit. Charon knelt down on the side of the bed and cradled her face in his hand, distantly noting just how small she really was in comparison to him. It was easy to forget when she was fighting him with all the fury of a deathclaw.

“It was…I did. Like it.” He was never good at considering his words, but he was never good at lying to her either. “I’d do it again, if you wanted to.”

The way her eyes lit up was worth the honesty. Her bright smile was more what he was used to and he let his body relax. 

“Let’s get you out of these. Where’s the key?”

“My back left pocket.” Viv heaved a content sigh and melted into the bed, waiting for him.

Charon found her shorts on the floor and rummaged through them. A cold sensation began to solidify in the pit of his stomach as he continued to come up empty handed, checking every pocket in case she was mistaken. He returned to the back left one, digging deeper until his finger popped out a hole in the stitching.

“ _Fuck_!”

Viv’s head snapped towards him in alarm. When he held her shorts out to her, displaying the frayed hole for her examination, her jaw dropped.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she muttered, twisting her body to try and get a better view.

“Where did you go after you left Nova?” Charon asked.

“Nowhere. I came straight home...maybe it fell out downstairs?” She offered hopefully.

Charon scanned the floor of their bedroom before heading out to check the staircase, the sofa, the thin rug by the front door. Nothing resembling a key caught his eye. Muttering a curse to himself, he trudged back upstairs.

“Nothing?” Viv lamented.

“Do you think you can pick it?” He asked, looking for her stash of bobby pins. Usually they were all over the place, but of course he couldn’t find any when they really needed them.

“I don’t know...I can try, but I’ve never had to open handcuffs before. I’m not even sure how the lock works.”

Charon grimaced.

“I can go check the road from the saloon...can you hold out that long?”

“Kind of don’t have a choice in the matter, Big Guy.” Viv gave him a wry smile. “Maybe Nova has a spare key?”

“Maybe,” he admitted, though he couldn’t say he fancied the idea of announcing to the entire fucking saloon that his mistress was chained up with no escape after they’d very clearly put the cuffs to good use. He covered her up with a blanket and grabbed his shirt. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be here,” she remarked dryly.

* * *

  
  


Going to Nova had been a mistake. Charon managed to get her away from the small herd of patrons lingering at the saloon, but her boisterous laughter had drawn many a pair of eyes to their little corner.

“Oh no, sorry,” the ginger giggled, “you poor babies. Don't worry, this happens all the time.”

“So you can get her out?” Charon asked, the back of his neck pricking with the curious stares.

“Yeah, no problem. Tell Gobbie that I’ll be right back,” she said, whisking away to her room in a flash.

Charon did as she asked, telling the ghoul bartender that he’d be borrowing his lover for a bit. Gob arched a bald brow but luckily didn’t ask questions. As he escorted Nova across the city, Charon didn’t miss the amused smile she’d shoot his way every so often. As they passed Jericho’s house, she finally broke the silence with an elongated: “So?”

The burning in his chest would have shown on his face if he’d had enough skin left to blush. As it stood, he only muttered to himself bitterly about goddamn smoothskin women as he trudged along the steel ramp of a road. Nova only grinned, far too pleased with herself as they finally reached the front door of the shack.

Viv was right where he’d left her, though much more fidgety and clearly uncomfortable. She greeted Nova with a sheepish smile, a light dusting of pink coloring her cheeks as the other woman leaned over her to slip a shim in through the lock of the handcuffs.

Viv watched in rapt attention as Nova walked her through how to open the cuffs without a key, plopping the shim into the younger woman’s palm with a wink once Viv was free. 

“Thank you,” Viv sighed, rubbing her red wrists in relief. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Anytime, hon. ” Nova turned from the bed, eyeing Charon up and down with an unreadable smirk. “Glad you liked them, Char.”

Charon grumbled and rolled his eyes, moving out of the way so the cackling ex-whore could show herself out. Once he heard the front door shut, he stepped to Viv to examine the damage. She winced slightly when he took her wrist on his hands. The thin skin was rubbed raw, but luckily she wasn’t bleeding.

“It’ll be fine,” she promised.

“You’re the nurse.” Charon let her hands go and glanced at the cuffs resting on the mattress. 

Viv followed his line of sight, reaching out and taking them into her hands thoughtfully. She turned the metal rings over, locked one, then experimented with the shim Nova had left her. It took no time at all to unlock it now that she had been instructed, and she held them up by the chain for Charon’s consideration.

“So, we’re definitely keeping these, right?” She asked.

Charon shot her an exasperated look, snatching the handcuffs from her fingers and throwing them onto the desk in the corner of the room.

“Of course we’re fucking keeping them,” he muttered and snatched his gun, deciding to head out to his patrol early before he did anything else to embarrass himself.

Viv’s triumphant laughter followed him all the way out the door. 


End file.
